


babel

by Askance



Series: Terrible Things [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Demonic Possession, Experimental Style, Gen, POV Second Person, Young Winchesters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-23
Updated: 2014-09-23
Packaged: 2018-02-18 11:29:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2346896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Askance/pseuds/Askance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daddy says Dean is very sick Do not go into his room He is contagious. <i>Contagious</i> is a frightening word.</p>
            </blockquote>





	babel

Daddy says Dean is very sick Do not go into his room He is contagious.

 

 _Contagious_ is a frightening word.

 

You can count on two hands how old you are. Soon you will need three hands to count how old Dean is. He has been waiting so impatiently for next month to come, for his birthday, to be Twelve. You feel badly, that it's so close to Christmas, and Dean is sick, and you want to go into that black back room and see him, but Daddy says No. You think you could be of use. Dean tells you sometimes when you have scraped your knees that you have special powers and you want to use them, listen to his coughing and his sniffling and touch his fever and tell him You will be okay I know this with my powers.

 

You do not like sleeping in this old creaking house without Dean. The bed feels very big and your pillow very cold. When you lie awake, small and scrunched up on the far empty side, you know the wall is at your head, the wall between the both of you. You like to picture him listening with his ear against the rain-swollen wood, listening for the sound of your sleeping, whispering good dreams to you through the knots and woodbore holes. You itch at your bedbug bites. The sound of your fingernails is so loud in this room. You cannot sleep without him, without the soft whistle of his breath against your head.

 

Daddy tucks you in and you say to him Is Dean okay. Daddy says He will be fine Get some rest. You whisper I want to sleep in there with him I won't get sick I have my special powers Daddy. But Daddy leaves, and lets the door hang open a crack for the light to come in.

 

You itch at your bedbug bites and listen for noises from Dean's room. There is a little scratching on the wall behind your head but you cannot tell if it is him or the bugs in the wood. It takes a long long time to fall asleep.

* * *

 

You ask Daddy What kind of sick is Dean. Daddy says Oh you would not have heard of it It is very serious.

 

Now you are confused because you have had all of your shots this year and so has Dean. You remember going to the doctor's with Pastor Jim. You ask Is it the flu. Daddy says No it is not the flu. You ask Will we go to the hospital. You are frightened of the hospital. But Daddy says No Dean is not hospital sick We are not going there.

 

You are wondering how you could have missed it. When you are getting sick Dean always knows. You suppose that is his special power, to know when you are feverish, to know when to buy you ginger ale. Suddenly you miss him very much. You count seven days on your fingers since you last saw him, since he got sick and went into the black back room.

 

Daddy catches you sitting by the bedroom door trying to see below the crack and yanks on your arm and sends you to your bed even though it is light out. You try your hardest to look through the woodbore holes but they are too small.

 

Maybe Dean is quiet because he is so sick, you think. He has been very quiet lately. He has been staring out the window, and giving you itchy smiles and scary eyes.

 

Dean you whisper through the big woodbore hole above the headboard. Dean. He doesn't say anything back. You suppose he is asleep.

 

You want to bring him ginger ale. You want to cry. You miss your brother very very much.

* * *

 

Today Daddy goes into the black back room with a book. He says Sam you stay put Do not come in there Dean is contagious You don't want to get sick do you.

 

You sit in the big armchair and try to peer around him when he goes inside but it is all too black and the door closes too quickly.

 

You are fidgety. It is easy to tell when Daddy is lying. Dean has showed you what to look for on his face. That is Dean's other special power—he knows when grown-ups are swallowing the truth.

 

Maybe Dean is sicker than you know. Maybe he will even die. It fills you with sticky dread all up inside your throat. You climb down off the armchair and press your back against the wall outside the door and you listen very hard.

 

You can hear Daddy talking. That is not hard. His voice comes through the wall like a swarm of burrowing bugs. You cannot understand him. He is saying words that have weird sharp edges. It is not English.

 

What kind of sick is Dean, that Daddy is saying strange things like this? Dean says that magic spells do not exist but you have seen movies, you know, that is what a magic spell sounds like. Maybe Daddy has special powers, too. Maybe he is making Dean better. You want to open the door so badly, to see.

 

But someone else is talking too. It makes the dread come back up your throat. It isn't Dean. It does not sound like him at all. It is a raspy voice, a painful voice. It sounds like it hurts to speak in that voice. You cannot understand it, either. It is loud and halting and screechy and hoarse. In the quiet spots between Daddy's voice it shouts out things that sound _awful._

 

You wish it would stop. It is making the hair stand up on your arms. Daddy's voice gets louder and the other voice gets louder too. It makes a howling noise like the wind slamming through this old house and you feel something wet running down your leg. You start to cry. You cannot help it. You want to turn your ears off, you wish it would stop, you wish so badly that it would stop.

 

When Daddy comes back out, later, he scoops you up even though your shorts and your socks are wet and rubs your back. He locks the door behind him. You say I want Dean into his neck and he shushes you. You are glad he is not mad at you for listening. He cleans you up and makes you Spaghettios and sits at the table to watch you eat. You think that he looks very tired and very scared, but it frightens you, to think, my Daddy is scared. You hug him very tight before bedtime.

 

You say Is Dean okay Is he better. Daddy says No Sammy Go to sleep now. But you cannot sleep of course. When you close your eyes you think of that howling noise and you cannot imagine what is in there with your brother, making such a horrible horrible sound.

* * *

 

Daddy says I will be back soon Do not go into that room.

 

But you are alone for a long time it seems. The sun moves across the floor in squares. You think now is your chance. You just want to be sure that Dean is okay. If you do not get too close, you think, you cannot catch his sick. You will use your special powers to see that he's alright and then you will feel better, you will leave him alone until he is better, and when he is better he will come out and say Sammy I am all better thanks to your special powers. And you will hug him tight and the bed won't be so cold to sleep in anymore.

 

The key to the black back room is on a hook in the old kitchen. You climb up on a chair to get it. 

 

There is no light in the room where Dean is, no light except the sunlight that comes in through the sheets stapled across the window. It is dusty. There is a chair in the middle of the room with belts hanging loose on its arms and legs. There is a bed against the wall and Dean is on it.

 

Dean you say and you run up close to him. You forget all about the word  _contagious._ He is lying on his side. You can see a belt tied around the bedpost, tied around his wrist. You say Dean and you reach out to shake his shoulder but he does not move.

 

You take a step back, frightened suddenly. 

 

But then he does a funny thing. He moves his arm. You think maybe he is reaching down for his blanket but his arm goes straight and then it goes around, and then it goes around, and around, and there is a popping noise, and his elbow is up towards the ceiling, and his hand is flat, and his shoulder is not right.

 

Dean you say. You cannot breathe quite right.

 

His head rolls toward you and he lifts up on his popped-out arm and you can hear his bone creaking. You take a long step back. You want to feel the wall behind you. His eyes are open but he is not looking at you. He gives you an itchy smile.

 

Dean says LITTLE ONE. It is not his voice. It is the terrible raspy howling voice coming out of his mouth. It sounds too grown-up. His back bends up the way it is not supposed to. You are frozen against the wall. Dean's mouth says I HAVE BEEN WAITING TO SEE YOU. His hipbones go all wrong and his leg slips backward. His head is upside down against the pillow. He is looking right at you. Dean's mouth says COME CLOSER.

 

You see his eyes. They are black like beetles.

 

The terrible rasping voice is chattery-laughing when you run from the room. You almost snap the key inside the lock. You go into the cold dry bathtub in the bathroom down the hall and hold your head between your knees and cry and cry.

* * *

 

You cannot tell Daddy what you've done. He finds you in the bathtub and says Sammy to you and you cannot look at him. You stay close to his side all day. You will not go near that door.

 

You ask him When will Dean get better.

 

He says I don't know Sammy I hope very soon I am trying.

 

You want to ask him about his magic spell. You want to say Daddy I have special powers too I can help you.

 

Daddy sends you to bed. You put your pillow on the end of the mattress. All night the scratching is on the walls, like fingernails, gently scraping, and it keeps you awake.

* * *

 

Today Daddy is trying the magic spell again. This time you listen from around the corner where he cannot see you if he comes out. The terrible voice is low now, low towards the floor. It's an ugly murmur under Daddy's voice. You feel like it will crawl out under the door like a snake.

 

For hours Daddy talks. Sometimes the terrible voice laughs at him, and when you squeeze your eyes closed you see Dean's face making that laugh and you hate it. He must be very very sick, or maybe he is crazy, or maybe he will die. You grind your teeth.

 

You hear a door slam. Daddy has given up. You hear the front door slam too and you know he is outside despairing.

 

LITTLE ONE says the voice in the room, through the heavy door.

 

You go very still around the corner.

 

I WON'T HURT YOU says the voice.

 

Very slow you slip around the wall and crouch down next to the door.

 

You say into the door Dean don't make that voice You are scaring me.

 

The voice is quiet and when it talks again it is the old Dean's voice. You do not trust it though. It is still off, it is sideways.

 

Dean says Sammy it's me I did not mean to scare you.

 

You say Don't ever make that voice again. 

 

You feel like you are going to cry.

 

Dean says Open the door Sammy I want to tell you something.

 

You do not open the door.

 

Tell me here you say. Talk through the door.

 

You hear a scraping noise like a chair moving. A thump. You see Dean's white fingers pushing underneath the door. They wriggle like worms.

 

Sammy come here says Dean.

 

You say I won't.

 

Sammy come closer says Dean So I can tell you something.

 

You do not move. You wish Daddy would come in and catch you and tell you that you are in trouble for disobeying. But he doesn't.

 

Sammy says Dean in a whisper now Sammy did you know you're going to be a big old king someday?

 

You say You're a liar.

 

No it's true says Dean. His voice is getting wrong again. I promise it's true You've got special powers Sammy You're going to be a big old king very soon.

 

You say I don't believe you.

 

You watch Dean's fingers clutch around the bottom of the door. It starts to blacken like it's rotting. You bite your tongue. You cannot look anywhere else.

 

He seems to push up on it. You see a glint below the door. He is looking at you through the crack.

 

You're going to be king of everything says Dean. He says I promise. He says I wouldn't  _lie_ to you Sammy.

 

You say You're a  _liar._

 

I WOULDN'T LIE TO YOU comes the terrible voice again and it shakes the house and the windows rattle, the glass shudders in its frames, the screen doors bangs, you are up and around and crouched fearful against the corner before Daddy comes shooting back in, you cover your face with your hands, you shiver and shake.

* * *

 

You have started counting sick-Dean days on your toes when Daddy comes to you on the porch and says Sammy come inside Dean is all better now. He has sweat on his forehead and he is sagging in his boots but you are so happy to hear this thing that you go inside with him anyway, your hand tight in his own big one.

 

The door to the black back room is open. You can see Dean's shadow sitting up. At once you are scared. You hesitate in the hallway.

 

Go on Sammy says Daddy. 

 

You shake your head. You are scared of that big terrible voice coming out again.

 

You see Dean get off the bed and come into the light. He is very white like a ghost or the sun. He smiles big when he sees you. It is not an itchy smile. His eyes are not scary anymore. You feel a little better.

 

Sammy he says with his good voice and he holds his arms open. You watch them, afraid they will pop out like they did before. You think he does not remember everything that has happened. You think if he did he would not be smiling at you like that. 

 

You bite your fingernail. You shrink behind Daddy. Dean's face goes sad and hurt.

 

Daddy says Dean isn't sick anymore Sammy Aren't you happy.

 

You nod but you do not come out. 

 

You whisper I'm scared.

 

Dean looks like he will cry.

* * *

 

You have counted all your fingers and toes, one for every week, before you will sleep next to your brother again. 

 

 


End file.
